Ealing Council has withdrawn its proposal to stop telling neighbours by post about planning applications which might affect them, and rely on noticeboards instead.

The move would have come about through a change to Ealing's Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), which every council has to have. A revised SCI containing this proposal was put out to consultation last year alongside the much more widely publicised new planning framework, on which SEC commented in detail.

The Council's Regulatory Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the Council's regulation functions, decided last month not to proceed with the idea, following a report from planners which recorded strong public opposition to the idea.

Initial understanding of the results of the consultation indicated that there were over 40 responses from local groups and individuals that objected. There was also criticism regarding the legitimacy of the consultation on an SCI that was still subject to amendment. There were no comments made in support of a change. In addition, members of the Planning Services User Group sent representations either raising new objections or confirming former objections to any change.

One of the members of the committee, Cllr Andrew Steed, who was active in opposing the move, said: "This is a small but significant victory for the principle that the Council must keep the public properly informed about matters of concern to them."